Eugène Revuz was born in Geneva in 1878 and was educated there at the Collège de Saint-Antoine; the Journal de Genève (JdG) [1] records a school prize awarded to him in July 1894. According to his obituary, also published in the JdG, he worked as a private tutor (précepteur) in Germany, the UK and Russia, before returning to Geneva where, in his late twenties, he took over the dance school of Benjamin Archinard.

His school was located initially (1904) at La Grand’Rue 9, then moved in 1906 to Rue de Hesse 16, before moving again in 1909 to Rue de la Rhône 61. This address seems also to have been his home address, since it appears as such on a letter dated 31st December 1936 in which Revuz, as secretary of the parish council of Saint-Pierre-Fusterie in Geneva, wished the supporters of the parish a Happy New Year. On the back of a spare copy of this letter, he wrote out an extended version of the Branle à six which appears on the page of the notebook at which the letter was inserted.

His obituary tells us that the dance school closed in the wake of the Second World War and he then worked as company director in his son’s factory (which manufactured watch dials) in Neuchâtel. He was a member of the group Ceux de Genève which was founded in 1934; he remained involved in dance through their  performances of traditional dances from the Swiss Pays Romand until at least the late 1950s. He was also a member of a Red Cross committee. Eugène Revuz died in Geneva on the 6th of November 1966, aged 88.

[1] JdG archives: www.letempsarchives.ch